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| maroon_and_rathdowney [2026/05/30 15:18] – judith | maroon_and_rathdowney [2026/05/30 18:14] (current) – judith |
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| Rosa Praed described //Maroon// in a number of her books, including as the //Doondi// station in her novel //The Head Station//.((Roderick, //In Mortal Bondage//, p.36.)) She kept a notebook of snippets (mainly of letters sent by Australian relatives and friends) which she then used in her books. Her notes on Maroon depicted its 'deep wide veranda. Cane chairs. A hammock, filter, the verandah closed in by cloth of gold roses. A big orange tree at the end. View of mountains'. She also recalled a banana tree, and wall brackets for hanging ferns. She especially conjured up the many colours of the garden in its various seasons. At the end of the verandah, there was a wild jessamine with clusters of large white sweet-smelling blossom. There was a bignonia with its 'large flame-coloured bell'-like flowers; a Rhyncospermum (Star Jasmine - Rosa spelt it Rhincaspernum) growing over a frame; a 'shrub with purple flowers like a periwinkle'; a francesia (known as yesterday, today and tomorrrow for its changing flowers from purple to lavender to white); and honeyshuckle growing over a trellis. At the shadiest end of the verandah was a bush house with a roof of branches and bark. In its cool, dark interior grew staghorns, bird's nest and other ferns, and various 'scrub plants'. In other places, Rosa described a trellis covered with a large vine of Isabella (black) grapes and on a nearby hill, rows of grapes - they always had more grapes, she wrote, than they could eat. The front verandah had roses either end and a 'vine which bore large orange flowers' (perhaps the prolific Orange Trumpet Vine). There were also orange trees at both sides of the house and a gravel pathway.((Praed notebook, Praed papers, Box 3/item 125, unpaginated)). It was, she remembered, 'very pretty' - though she might have added that it depended on the season and whether there was a drought. | Rosa Praed described //Maroon// in a number of her books, including as the //Doondi// station in her novel //The Head Station//.((Roderick, //In Mortal Bondage//, p.36.)) She kept a notebook of snippets (mainly of letters sent by Australian relatives and friends) which she then used in her books. Her notes on Maroon depicted its 'deep wide veranda. Cane chairs. A hammock, filter, the verandah closed in by cloth of gold roses. A big orange tree at the end. View of mountains'. She also recalled a banana tree, and wall brackets for hanging ferns. She especially conjured up the many colours of the garden in its various seasons. At the end of the verandah, there was a wild jessamine with clusters of large white sweet-smelling blossom. There was a bignonia with its 'large flame-coloured bell'-like flowers; a Rhyncospermum (Star Jasmine - Rosa spelt it Rhincaspernum) growing over a frame; a 'shrub with purple flowers like a periwinkle'; a francesia (known as yesterday, today and tomorrrow for its changing flowers from purple to lavender to white); and honeyshuckle growing over a trellis. At the shadiest end of the verandah was a bush house with a roof of branches and bark. In its cool, dark interior grew staghorns, bird's nest and other ferns, and various 'scrub plants'. In other places, Rosa described a trellis covered with a large vine of Isabella (black) grapes and on a nearby hill, rows of grapes - they always had more grapes, she wrote, than they could eat. The front verandah had roses either end and a 'vine which bore large orange flowers' (perhaps the prolific Orange Trumpet Vine). There were also orange trees at both sides of the house and a gravel pathway.((Praed notebook, Praed papers, Box 3/item 125, unpaginated)). It was, she remembered, 'very pretty' - though she might have added that it depended on the season and whether there was a drought. |
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| Rosa described the homestead as originally having just two large rooms - a sitting room and a bedroom - but also 'a good many verandah rooms. It was gradually rebuilt. She recalled her and other rooms decorated with pictures out of the newspaper //Illustrated News//. Like all large country homes then, it was warmed by wood burning in a large open fireplace. The drawing room had 'Dark cedar walls. paintings upon them & Indian brass trays etc. Small narrow windows at the end with view of Mt Barney'((Box 23)) | Rosa described the homestead as originally having just two large rooms - a sitting room and a bedroom - but also 'a good many verandah rooms. It was gradually rebuilt. She recalled her and other rooms decorated with pictures out of the newspaper //Illustrated News//. Like all large country homes then, it was warmed by wood burning in a large open fireplace. The drawing room had 'Dark cedar walls. paintings upon them & Indian brass trays etc. Small narrow windows at the end with view of Mt Barney'((Praed papers. Box 23)) Lizzie recalled to Rosa that Maroon had an 'old dairy ... As a child I remember playing there & helping Mama to churn' butter.((Praed papers, Rosa's notebook Box 23/6/1? 20250416_115534.jpg)) Rosa also reminisced about //Maroon// in a letter to her stepsister Dorothy, 'the view from the Maroon verandah - the old racecourse and paddock and the river with its still deep pools', but also noted that, when she last visited the property in 1893, 'it had all greatly changed'.((quoted in Patricia Clarke, //Rosa! Rosa!//)) \\ |
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| Rosa also reminisced about //Maroon// in a letter to her stepsister Dorothy, 'the view from the Maroon verandah - the old racecourse and paddock and the river with its still deep pools', but also noted that, when she last visited the property in 1893, 'it had all greatly changed'.((quoted in Patricia Clarke, //Rosa! Rosa!//)) \\ | |
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| Maroon also housed at least some of TLM-P's collection of oil paintings, including an alter piece (dated 1600), Madonnas and 'some curious Dutch subjects'. Rosa described these as looking 'strange and incongruous in a Bush dwelling but gave the house a character of its own.' Many of these ended up as the nucleus of the Queensland Art Gallery as outlined in [[brisbane_art_gallery|Brisbane Art Gallery]].((Praed notebook, Praed papers, Box 3/item 125, Unpaginated.))\\ | Maroon also housed at least some of TLM-P's collection of oil paintings, including an alter piece (dated 1600), Madonnas and 'some curious Dutch subjects'. Rosa described these as looking 'strange and incongruous in a Bush dwelling but gave the house a character of its own.' Many of these ended up as the nucleus of the Queensland Art Gallery as outlined in [[brisbane_art_gallery|Brisbane Art Gallery]].((Praed notebook, Praed papers, Box 3/item 125, Unpaginated.))\\ |